Jesus receives the Spirit in the form of a dove as John the Baptist gives witness, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him.”
Doves periodically appeared in early art; from Mesopotamia and Syria to the Canaanites, Israelites, and Greeks. Doves have tended to represent love, romance, and divinity. Followers of Jesus’ Way add to those meanings the dove’s representation of peace. Doves are noted as excellent navigators, meaning that symbolically they convey intentionality about bringing positive messages to their intended recipients. Doves can thus be relied upon to accomplish their mission to bring love, divinity, peace to people of the world. Dove is also the name chosen by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) for its annual awards. “Since 1969 the GMA Dove Awards has honored outstanding achievements and excellence in Christian and Gospel Music.” The music group’s intent to bring love, divinity, and peace is currently being questioned by one of its recent award winners, Kirk Franklin. Mr. Franklin began winning Dove Awards in 1993. He has won song of the year and album of the year multiple times. Just recently, for the second time, he won artist of the year. During his first acceptance speech for the award in 2016 there “descended upon him like a dove” the following Spirit, “we have the spirit of redemption when we speak. When we say something, we want to bring it together, not separate it. When police are killed, we need to say something. When black boys are killed, we need to say something, and if we don’t say something, we are saying something.” Unfortunately, apparently with the GMA’s approval, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) censored his speech. They edited around his words on police brutality. Franklin’s spirited response to them for censoring him resulted in the offending corporate parties promising they would never censor him again. They did not keep their promise. After winning the GMA’s most recent Artist of the Year award, Mr. Franklin noted in his acceptance speech a recent murder by a police officer of a Forth Worth, Texas, woman. The officer shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old woman, while she was playing games in her own home with her nephew. “I’m just asking that we send up prayers for her family, and for his.” Mr. Franklin’s words were again censored. The dove artist, this messenger of love, divinity, and peace is now giving further witness to Jesus’ Way in the world. In the Spirit of holiness, Mr. Franklin has long been speaking publicly about the anger, lawlessness, and warfare awash in this U.S. empire. He is now speaking publicly about those who are complicit with it, who reject the Spirit’s witness and silence him. Mr. Franklin will thus boycott the GMA, its Dove Awards, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network until tangible changes are made. One of Mr. Franklin’s supporters, the artist Lecrae said of his censure, “It was a shock to the system. It demonstrated that there are certain voices and issues that I believe God cares about and for some reason are muted.” Kirk Franklin, Lecrae, and other artists care about being led by the Spirit.
“No more tears And no more fears Ever since I met the Holy One… There’s a sweet, sweet spirit In this place And I’m going to take that spirit With me every day There’s been a change A change in me I’ve got a new attitude A whole different personality And it’s you, Spirit And I want the world to know… There’s something about Your spirit.” (Sweet Spirit – Kirk Franklin)
Prayer: Spirit, we are peacemaking doves in this world
Question: What message do I need to intentionally convey about the times in which I live?
January 19, 2020 Gospel John 1:29-34 Second Sunday in Ordinary Time